This invention relates to a ski boot heel binding equipped with a ski brake.
Conventionally, a ski brake has been provided separately from a heel binding and mounted on the upper surface of a ski plate by screws where a ski boot is stepped in. Accordingly, it has been troublesome for ski shops to mount the ski brake apart from the heel binding. In addition, many screw holes made through the ski plate for mounting both of the ski brake and the heel binding have weakened the strength of the ski plate.
A more serious problem has been experienced when a conventional ski brake made of a spring wire or spring plate is used. Such a ski brake retains an upward stress when depressed by a ski boot, so that a certain upward force tending to release the heel binding is always applied thereto. Accordingly, even when the heel binding having an accurately preset critical releasing force is used, the upward stress of the ski brake will cause an error in the critical releasing force of the binding and the binding will be displaced to the heel releasing position by an upward shock less than the preset critical releasing force.
In view of the above disadvantages of the ski brake, there is provided a ski boot heel binding equipped with a ski brake as shown in German Patent Application No. P 26 130 16. In this ski boot heel binding, the ski brake is assembled to be operated by the sliding movement of the heel binding. That is, the ski brake rotates toward a rest position when the binding slides back by engagement with the ski boot and, on the contrary, the ski brake rotates toward an operative position when the binding slides forwardly along the ski by releasing the ski boot therefrom.
However, the boot heel binding slides only a short length along the ski when the ski boot is engaged and released, so that it has been difficult to convert such a short length of sliding movement of the heel binding into adequate rotational movement of the ski brake.